Move over, cherry. It’s spoon time!
A scaffold surrounds part of “Spoonbridge and Cherry” in preparation for the repainting of the spoon. (Alicia Eler)
“The challenging part of this particular job is the scale, the size of it,” said Alex Obney, owner of Fine Art Finishes. “We did literally two weeks of sanding. I just wanted to remove as much previous paint jobs as possible so we’re not just building up more layers. We really went at it aggressively with the sanding, and fixed many cracks, so it was a lot of prep.”
Paint jobs on outdoor public sculptures can be compared to cars.
“If you parked your car outside in the same place for seven or eight years, and full-bore UV in the Minnesota weather, where the temperature fluctuation can be 140 degrees over a calendar year, you would definitely see some wear and tear on it,” said Joe King, director of collections and exhibitions management at the Walker Art Center.
Crews get to work priming the spoon of the “Spoonbridge and Cherry” in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. (Alicia Eler)
While being painted, spoon stays attached to cherry and remains in the garden.
“It’s the biggest part of the piece, obviously,” said Robbie Frank, collections and exhibitions technician at the Walker Art Center.
